Week 1 | Two Cultures
Within the UCLA community, there is a perception that humanities classes are “easier” than physical science classes. For this reason, an underlying tension exists between those pursuing degrees in the humanities and those pursuing degrees in the physical sciences. The geographic division of the two disciplines—North Campus (arts and humanities) and South Campus (math and physical sciences)—only magnifies this separation. Ironically, as a college student trying to find her place among these “Two Cultures” (Snow), I was unaware of how deeply rooted in our education system this divide between North Campus and South Campus is until thinking of them as two distinct "cultures". Although C.P. Snow delivered his famous lecture over 50 years ago, his ideas are still relevant. He noted: “the politeness [between scientists and non-scientists] has gone, and they just make faces [at each other]” (Snow 19). The Sokal controversy (Vesna 123) exemplified this hostility